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CRONULLA boss Barry Russell says the current salary cap probe into the Sharks is not related to 2018 players. Rolling league coverage.

CRONULLA boss Barry Russell has moved to clear the current Sharks squad, saying the club’s salary cap probe does not relate to 2018 players. Russell reported salary cap irregularities to league head office after taking over the Sharks’ CEO job earlier this year, with the NRL launching an integrity unit investigation.

He says the undisclosed third party agreements relate to 2015 and the player involved is no longer at the Shire. “The issues or discrepancies that I disclosed do not relate to any of the current playing squad — as I said, it relates to issues some years ago,” Russell said. “I’m working with the NRL very closely, I have been for months, I’ve provided full disclosure, I’ve allowed the integrity unit to come in and download information from our server and any other information or hardware they required. “We have nothing to hide. I want to get to the bottom of any issues or discrepancies, which I believe we’re doing. The investigation is ongoing and we will continue to co-operate with the NRL.” NRL CEO Todd Greenberg on Wednesday said that the Sharks were this year $500,000 below the salary cap and denied their participation in the 2018 finals would come into question. The potential salary cap infringements came to light after Russell launched a full governance review when he took over six months ago. Sharks CEO Opens up He found a potentially illegal third party deal in 2015 after going through the club’s books and alerted the NRL. The club won its maiden premiership the following year and he said he couldn’t speculate on whether further problems could be uncovered by a forensic probe. While bullish about the Sharks’ chances of remaining competitive this year, he expected the matter to linger throughout the finals. “I envisage this investigation will go through till the off-season,” Russell said. “I haven’t got a timeline — there is a lot of data to work through, so that does take time. “Our club is being fully co-operative but our priority at the moment is for our playing squad to just remain strong, focused on the final series. “And I believe we have every chance to really give this competition a good shake. The squad’s trained well, this is not affecting them.”

Originally published as NRL Daily: Live rolling rugby league coverage from around Australia

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